Groupon and Zynga are a bit of a surprise; AMD and Dell are not. Both have been challenged at staying on top of larger technology trends. AMD was hamstrung by its ATI graphics acquisition, and Dell hasn't embraced mobile, McIntyre argues.

I think there is no way that a big, established semiconducter company, which leads the field in audio and power technologies, will go down. So I think I can safely say that National Semiconductor will be around for at least another decade. Oops, did I miss something? Read Ecclesiastes 9:11 - "The race is not to the swift, nor the battle to the sttrong...but time and circumstance happen to them all" - or words to that effect.